New York Fashion Week: Victoria Beckham autumn/winter 2012

With husband David on the front row and baby daughter Harper asleep backstage with a new bag named in her honour, Victoria Beckham's military-inspired show was a family-friendly one.

BY Luke Leitch |
12 February 2012

Photo: VLADIMIR POTOP

Victoria was backstage directing proceedings, David sat on the front row taking photographs, and their baby daughter Harper was tucked away in a quiet corner having a kip - it was a bonanza of Beckhams at New York Fashion Week today.

That, explained Victoria, was inspired by the baseball shirt her son Brooklyn bombs around the house in. And the peaked beanie hats created by Stephen Jones came to her courtesy David's preferred day-to-day headwear. "I get so inspired by my everyday life," she said. Furthermore, a new two-pocketed handbag has been named after Harper, the couple's youngest: this show was a family affair.

It was David's first catwalk outing - he said he's stayed away in the past to leave Victoria un-distracted - but he looked like a natural. First he swapped easy pre-show banter with Anna Wintour of American Vogue, then the lights came up and he focused on the clothes. These had plenty of signature sexy Victoria Beckham touches; the crying-out-to-be unzipped zippers that run south down the spine from neck to hem, the tightness, and the odd hip, waist, or breast delineating line running horizontally across the body.

What was new were the military elements - epaulettes, gold buttons, a python-lined trench coat, and plenty of khaki - interspersed with double-looped thin leather belts at the waist or webbing-like strapping that cris-crossed shoulders on open-backed dresses.

Mrs Beckham eschewed the corsetry of her previous collections for close-fitted canvas and quilting to provide that supportive fit. Not everything, though, was tight: there were some relaxed shirt dresses with baseball collars, and some mini-dresses that with a fluting, backward kick at the skirt. The shoes were either flat, no-messing biker boots or heavy-strapped high heel shoe-boots, worn over calf-climbing thick, baseball inspired woollen socks.

Backstage, after the show, the applause woke Harper. David put down his camera and scooped her up in his arms.

David Beckham with baby daughter Harper. Photo: Luke Leitch

He said: "I got some good shots. And I think the collection is very strong. Very sexy, and there were some amazing shapes on the girls - it's been a successful morning. This is my first show and it's nice to be involved, and to see how hard my wife works."

Victoria, meanwhile, was fielding questions from a cluster of fashion journalists. "He's never been before," she said of her husband :"I don't think that he even realised that I have a proper job until today."